Heather's introduction

24 Sep, 2005 |

 

The explosion shook the castle and made poor Heather shriek with freight. She knew exactly what it was because she felt the castle itself scream out of panic although that knowledge did little to calm her nerves; the oak doors had been destroyed.

 

Could that boy have done this? She was running down the stairs at this point, not scared but more curious. She had long given up on being scared, spending so much time in an orphanage, you either fell inside of yourself or grew strong enough to not care. Heather was strong.

 

The whispers from the walls were still echoing around her so fast that she could not make it out although she caught bits about a boy in a heavy hooded cloak standing at the doorway where the doors of the castle once stood.

 

Who was this boy? Why hadn't the instructors mentioned another one was coming? Heather could not answer these questions, there were so many mysteries when coming to this place. Including how she had even got here. She could not even explain exactly how that had happened...a car ride..maybe?

 

She was in an orphanage not more then 2 months ago, when she started having reoccurring dreams and nightmares. She didn't think anything of it really until she received a letter saying she was to be transfered. The head of the orphanage did not entirely care, but mentioned something about a school far away had requested her and that it would be a good opportunity. Heather had packed her things and then was in a car for what seemed like days, and now for two months she was here.

 

She learned that she and another three were brought here because they had special gifts and powers that needed to be trained and honed. They would not be allowed to leave the castle grounds until they could knock the front door down. The very door that this boy had just destroyed! Heather and the other three could barely make the door shake, and they had been here for two months!

 

Heather had no idea what they were on about until the youngest boy, Donald, had a fit that had somehow destroyed his room. The instructors did not seem to worried about this and merely stated that causing such destruction was no way to act and he would still not be getting ice-cream. They had acted like this was the most normal thing in the world, even though it obviously was not.

 

Now another, a fifth kid and third boy was here and had destroyed the door that had so far withstood all of them. How did he do this?

 

Heather stopped at the last step just as lightning flashed outside, illuminating the figure now standing where the doors once were. He was young... as young as she was, she guessed. He stood with his hands behind his back and grinned as if very pleased with himself. He was looking around until he spotted her staring at him. He pulled his hood off as if to get a better look and she noticed that he had very black hair and bright grey eyes. He face was pale, but clear and he looked a little malnourished. There was deep intelligence behind those eyes though...they held stories and knowledge that Heather did not.

 

He smiled at her, and she could not help but smile back. He did not say anything, but continued to examine her with an inquisitive eye. Heather could not turn away from him, no matter how hard she tried.

 

At once, all of the instructors, all twenty of them were in the hall. Some of them had looks of awe, others of terror. They were whispering to each other and stopped for a moment while trying to decide what to do with this new arrival.

 

The older instructors walked to the boy and escorted him away, talking quietly and low. The boy turned his head to see Heather once again, gave her a knowing nod and winked. Madam Lankey, the house keeper and near mother to them all, noticed Heather standing on the steps and went over to her.

 

"Heather, dear." She said with a week smile. "Heather...you should be asleep dear. Please go back to your room."

 

Heather mumbled an okay and started walking carefully and quietly back up the steps to her room, still blushing and smiling to herself. She raked her hand across the wall and heard it whisper to her, "He's quite cute, isn't he?"

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Four and 1; The Beginning

17 Aug, 2005 |

Charlie could see clearly that this school was the one in his dreams. The cool tall towers that were once grey but were now so covered with moss that they glistened in a dark a green. The rain poured over the spires and fell to the ground with a hard and satisfying splash. The grey stones seemed ancient, but that was merely an illusion. The building could not be more then a few hundred years old, a time when money and man powered could be easily faked. It's actual construction and appearance could not be easily explained, as there were no records of it ever being built. It was just here one day, as far as anyone could guess.

 

Charlie walked forward and touched the cold and slimey rock tower and closed his eyes. He could feel the other four already here, which surprised him. He hadn't really expected them to be here before he had. He knew there would be five, although his parents had never mentioned there would be others; his dreams had told him. He feared that being the last to arrive would put him at a disadvantage, though he did not know how long the others were there. Still he could not go back. He knew his dreams told him to be here, and he knew that he would not discount his dreams. They had not led him astray so far, and he was certain that he belong here. He would help in the war anyway possible, even if he wasn't to be the one his parents talked about.

 

He released his hand from the stone wall and look up at the nearest window. It was much to far to climb; it would have to be the front door. Charlie smiled and walked around the castle. It seemed bigger then he had dreamed, but then he had only seen one side and not the entire structure. They grey walls stretched on into the distance as impending as great iron bars holding in the animals at zoos. Charlie didn't mind though, he had already made it thousands of miles on his own to get here, a few hundred feet of walking would mean little.

 

Charlie had traveled from somewhere in the US to this castle, though if you asked him he couldn't tell you exactly how he got here or exactly where he came from. He remembered his parents, and remember them dying. He remembered the stories they would tell him, and the dreams they brought. While his parents death had come suddenly, Charlie was not all surprised. Even at the young age of five, somehow he knew that they would not be with him forever, especially after the dreams had started. Though he wondered if they knew.

 

After their death he had been moved to his aunt's house. A lonely old woman who had never married, but seemed to adore Charlie. His parents had never mentioned her previously and he was uncertain what to make of her. Her kind nature and soft, old voice soothed him when he would wake up from nightmares. Something his parents had never done. She showed him how wonderful and beautiful the world was and would listen to the stories about his reoccurring nightmares. For all purposes, Charlie had long considered her, his mother.

 

He came to this strange land after running away from his aunts house after a terrible dream of a war. A war that no amount of military power would be able to stop. A war with...something...something not human, but not alien. It was hard to explain and even now when he tried to remember he would only get flashes of bright blue flowing lights and deep eyes that stared at him with an anger he would never be able to shake off.

 

Still, there was the vague shroud of hope. If he was to be in this war, it would be on his terms and at the age of thirteen he had already decided not to turn his back on this world. he loved it far too much. His terror to this day was that those eyes were actually him. The anger and hatred so intense he could feel it through the air had somehow felt... familiar. It was after waking up from this dream, when his aunt did not come to help him, that he knew he needed to leave. It was then that he clearly saw the castle in his mind and knew where he would go.

 

While traveling, Charlie began to realize that he could do things that others could not. He could feel people inside of a building, and command the building to do things. He could force it to open windows and doors, make things move, and somehow get the building to hide him while he walked through halls and rooms. To anyone else there, he was just part of the wall, and certainly not a walking, talking, boy of thirteen with supernatural powers.

 

The rain was beginning to fall harder as Charlie rounded the last corner and spotted the giant great oak doors that bared the entrance, no doubt locked from the inside with beams of oak, chains of iron, and anything else they could use to keep the world out. Charlie walked calmly over to the door, his smile becoming larger as he approached. He put both hands on the door, closed his eyes and leaned against it. He focuses on the sounds and vibrations, making out who was nearest the door and could already hear the whispers of the strange boy walking around outside.

 

He mouthed to the door, "Open..."

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